Reviews of 2010

Seeing as my blog only started this month, I decided I’ll talk about the 2010 contest in Oslo for a bit before I give out my predictions for the first semi-final. The Song score represents my opinion of the song on its own. The Performance Score is my opinion of the performance and singing in the final. Note the overalls are not averages of the song score and performance score.

Things to note that happened in Oslo: All the Eurasian countries did well that year and I really enjoyed their songs. Again Russia and Ukraine placed next to each other, this time taking spots 11 and 10 respectively. The UK came last again in the final. Norway dropped from 1st place in 2009 to 20th place in 2010. The Spanish performance was invaded. 5 Lithuanian men performed a striptease, the tease was that they weren’t planning to finish. Similarly a Turkish robot performed a striptease, except this one was from machine to woman. I heard rap in Macedonian for the first time. And Wales represented Cyprus. Moving along:

The Top 15:

1. Germany - Satellite

Good song, but not my pick for the win. She enjoyed herself and I guess the best song won (ignoring what seemed like a deliberate attempt to mispronounce English). She enjoyed herself on stage and that made it a pleasure to watch. Once again, it was a good song, Bravo!
Song Score: 9/10, Performance Score 10/10
Overall Score: 9/10

2. Turkey - We Could Be the Same

Now this is the song I wanted to win. This decision came about shortly before the Final voting process began. It took a while for me to decide this but this song was the one for me. Despite the Turkish accent, his phrasing and delivery were flawless. Hmmm sense a bit of bias?
Song Score: 10/10, Performance Score 10/10
Overall Score: 10/10, Aced it!

3. Romania - Playing With Fire

The moment I saw this song in its semi-final, I thought it was going to be the winning song. Romania finally brought it after years of sub-Romanian standard songs. It was a great song and had good pyrotechnics; the Siamese twin piano looked awesome!!! In the end they placed 3rd at the final.
Song Score: 9/10, Performance Score 8/10
Overall Score: 8/10

4. Denmark - In a Moment Like This

A brilliant song, it took me a very long time to realize this. Their performance was interesting and overall I give it a thumbs up. The eventual scores are below, my Initial overall score was 4/10 lol.
Song Score: 9/10, Performance Score 7/10
Overall Score: 8/10

5. Azerbaijan - Drip Drop

This is a great song, well done to Azerbaijan in keeping their record. Since debuting in 2008, they’ve remained in the top 8. However I didn’t like her voice, I don’t know what it is but it was irritating. Many of the fantastic vocal qualities in the studio recorded version were missing. But her performance was interesting and somewhat resembled a music video. I give her props for being my age and taking on a crowd of multi-millions twice in one week.
Song Score: 9/10, Performance Score 5/10
Overall Score: 7/10

6. Belgium - Me and My Guitar

Simple and profound. I loved this song, so did Europe for its semi-final. In the final, bigger fish scooted him a little. It’s always good to hear a decent song from a person whose first name you share.
Song Score: 9/10, Performance Score 7/10
Overall Score: 8/10

7. Armenia - Apricot Stone

I loved the way the song transitioned you to a never-known culture as she told you her story about a precious stone. Now I think she made her Armenian accent work for her, maybe because of her smile and overall gorgeous looks. However don’t get me wrong the song is great and she brought it well.
Song Score: 8/10, Performance Score 8/10
Overall Score: 8/10

8. Greece - Opa!

Excellent song; it was sung in a Greek which is really nice. Nice and upbeat with the Balkan jingles I like.
Song Score: 7/10, Performance Score 8/10
Overall Score: 8/10

9. Georgia - Shine

Shine is a really humble and sweet song that brings you a sense of grace. The stage performance was curious. I couldn’t tell if the dancers wanted to touch her or grope her. In any case good song.
Song Score: 8/10, Performance Score 6/10
Overall Score: 7/10

10. Ukraine - Sweet People

Talk about a deep message!! I didn’t like her singing though; she did a little too much. She overemphasized some parts of the song I thought required less stress. Nice song though.
Song Score: 7/10, Performance Score 6/10
Overall Score: 6/10

11. Russia - Lost and Forgotten

Horrible! This was not a nice song at all. Why it did so well confounds me to this day. He should’ve sung it in Russian. I don’t speak Russian, but I would’ve gotten the message a lot more clearly had he done so; his words were incomprehensible. Russia is normally successful, clearly they didn’t waiver from this unwritten rule. But a good placing clearly doesn’t mean a good song. PS I have nothing against Russians or Mother Russia.
Song Score: 3/10, Performance Score 4/10
Overall Score: 3/10

12. France - Allez Ola Olé

This was a tremendous change to the mood and style. A taste of Africa on a European stage! I enjoyed the energy and the dancing, and though unexpected, his haka. His voice did lose its firmness as the song continued, probably from moving around too much. But it was an awesome performance.
Song Score: 7/10, Performance Score 9/10
Overall Score: 8/10

13. Serbia - Ovo Je Balkan

Hop Hop Hop! Fun Fun Fun! It was fun to watch, although it looked like some kind of Barbie doll (I mean Ken) show. I had never heard of Turbo-folk music before and I must say it’s not too bad for music that is totally foreign to me. All was good but I didn’t really enjoy his singing, or what he tried to do with his voice.
Song Score: 6/10, Performance Score 7/10
Overall Score: 6/10

14. Israel - Milim
A really good song and he had a brilliant start with it. He however did try too hard when it came to his choruses. However he did sing it with heart and I saw that. He changed up the way he sings it in the recorded version and he made it sound a lot better.
Song Score: 10/10, Performance Score 6/10
Overall Score: 7/10

15. Spain - Algo Pequeñito

Something of a circus happened on stage here, and to add to the clowning around, we get an invasion that I failed to notice… Tiny and enchanting but not really a fancy song.
Song Score: 5/10, Performance Score 8/10
Overall Score: 6/10


Countries that should have qualified

1. Croatia - Lako Je Sve

The saddest story of Oslo I think was the failure of Feminnem to qualify for the final. They sent what I think was a potential winner for 2010. A proper quality ballad sung in Croatian. It was a stiff competitor to Turkey and Romania. Lako Je Sve thrashes Satellite. However their semi-final performance was appalling. The lead singer losing her timing shortly after her introduction is probably what remained in everyone’s mind throughout the song. On top of that their performance was average. However if they had that 2nd shot at the final, who knows we might’ve been having Zagreb 2011 this year.
Song Score: 10/10, Performance Score 4/10
Overall Score: 5/10

2. Sweden - This Is My Life

I was at a loss when I saw this song didn’t qualify. Nothing was wrong with it. Indeed her voice needed work for English, but accent can’t have been the reason to shoot a good song down. I liked the song and her singing.
Song Score: 9/10, Performance Score 7/10
Overall Score: 8/10

3. Poland -Legenda

What Legenda! Yes this was a good song. It had an amazing array of harmonies which were led by a magnificent male lead. I must agree that the performance seemed a bit random in that what were the women on stage really doing??? Legenda is clearly about a fairytale, a legendary. Sadly the year for fairytales was 2009
Song Score: 8/10, Performance Score 5/10
Overall Score: 7/10

Countries that shouldn’t have qualified

1. Ireland

I have nothing else to say but it wasn’t for me.

2. Cyprus - Life Looks Better In Spring

I agree with the notion that this is a good song, but I didn’t think it was good enough to qualify through. Oh well….

3. Russia - Lost and Forgotten

I’ve explained this one already.



Stay tuned for my 1st Semi-Final Predictions ;)